Internet Weather Compensation

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  • G4RHL
    Automated Home Legend
    • Jan 2015
    • 1580

    Internet Weather Compensation

    The current software in the Control Panel has smart features that bring in weather compensation. I assume it can pick up the temperature via the Internet if there is no outside thermometer. I check the app to see what it thinks the outside temperature is most days and, whilst it is not always spot on, it is close by about 1 degree. What is members’ experience of using the smart feature and internet temperature setting?
  • richk
    Automated Home Jr Member
    • Apr 2021
    • 17

    #2
    Works really well for me.

    Comment

    • G4RHL
      Automated Home Legend
      • Jan 2015
      • 1580

      #3
      I set it yesterday leaving at the default of +1.5. Rooms got too warm and I had to remove it. I need to research some more but would appreciate other’s experience and advice.

      Comment

      • SteveP
        Automated Home Guru
        • Dec 2012
        • 190

        #4
        I've had mixed reactions since it was introduced after initial "playing" when the feature was added and there was a lot of discrepancy between the actual outside temp (according to my weather station) and the internet temp. In addition, during autumn/spring when there was a lot of sun and resulting thermal gain, this caused the rooms to overheat as the internet temp was showing as low so the cold weather compensation kicked in but the sun was adding thermal gain.
        The net result is that I use these feature "carefully". It can also be difficult to get a "perfect" cold weather boost temp uplift and also temp difference activation point as so much depends upon wind chill etc.
        I like the concept but have found it somewhat “challenged” as a “set and forget” implementation.
        Currently, I have the cold weather set to boost bathrooms (standard setting 21c) by 1c when temp difference of 17c - so aiming for outside temp of 4c and less. This appears to be the best balance currently. However, add a bit of northerly wind chill and some snow and I end up tweaking or if a bright sunny day then I turn off !
        Would really like cold weather boost differential to be in the user settings rather than installer settings due to me having to regularly adjust - so not a set once and forget.
        The warm weather compensation did though work well and I have “set and forget” that one
        Load scaling - hm, the jury is still out on that one as despite using Normal setting. This is due to the latency of adjusting a rad setting and the system deciding that it will "think about it" for 20 mins or so, it is me who has to explain to the family that they have called for more heat and nothing is happening !! Shame the evohome doesn’t send out a message to the console saying "I know you want more heat but according to my calcs you should be ok – please call back in 20 mins to see whether I have reconsidered" - at least then it would prevent them yelling at me that they think the systems broke !! lol

        Comment

        • G4RHL
          Automated Home Legend
          • Jan 2015
          • 1580

          #5
          Thanks SteveP. I am tempted to not bother after yesterday’s experience. I suppose I could set it for one room but on the other hand it is just as easy to do a manual boost. That must produce a greater saving as it is only applied when it is wanted and you know it will cancel at the next set point. More accurate perhaps is an external thermometer wired in. That could work more efficiently. At present OpenTherm does a great job.

          Comment

          • SteveP
            Automated Home Guru
            • Dec 2012
            • 190

            #6
            Originally posted by G4RHL View Post
            Thanks SteveP. I am tempted to not bother after yesterday’s experience. I suppose I could set it for one room but on the other hand it is just as easy to do a manual boost. That must produce a greater saving as it is only applied when it is wanted and you know it will cancel at the next set point. More accurate perhaps is an external thermometer wired in. That could work more efficiently. At present OpenTherm does a great job.
            I have one bathroom that has a towel rad that is fine until the weather changes onto the really cold side (strong freezing winds from the North). When the weather does "Plummet" the cold weather boost does make a difference for that room. However, as I said, it can be a tricky balance of parameters to get it "just right". So yes as you suggest, most of the rest of the time I simply do a manual adjust and if the weather shifts for a forecast number of days to the cold side then I set the cold weather boost on and then switch off once weather returns to more "normal" mode. As sadly I don't have OpenTherm Boiler then a lot of my heating weather adjustments are manual having to manually tweak the boiler setting That is where the Load scaling is supposed to help (for those of us with "antique" boilers ) but as I said previously, that function is a tad esoteric in behaviour and can be a mixed blessing. Sometimes tech can be a bit too clever

            Comment

            • CT1
              Automated Home Guru
              • Apr 2016
              • 189

              #7
              I anticipated the problems described by SteveP so have not used either of these new features nor optimisation. Family find EvoHome too complicated as it is (my fault apparently) without having to deal with “computer says no”. I know how long rooms take to warm up so just set the schedule accordingly. As SteveP says, no single weather parameter can be applied to the whole house at all times, we just let the room thermostats sort it out.

              Variable manual offsets in eco mode could have been useful but limited use as implemented, because it cannot be applied to individual rooms and requires you to access one menu to set the offset and another to activate it, so again, not used except to turn the heating down when not needed.

              We are very much a Keep It Simple Stupid kind of family, and not interested in producing graphs and statistics either, a rarity on this forum, but I suspect more common amongst the silent majority. The biggest improvement I found was fitting separate room thermostats.
              Last edited by CT1; 6 December 2021, 04:10 PM.

              Comment

              • RedEarth
                Automated Home Sr Member
                • Jan 2021
                • 71

                #8
                I use warn weather saver on the four zones that have windows/external doors, using with a temperature boost of 0.5c, I find this works pretty well. I use the warm weather saver too although there was one occasion last spring where this kicked in far too early due to an incorrectly high outdoor temperature being reported by whatever internet weather service it uses, leaving me waking up to a cold house. It would be better to have the option to use an external temperature sensor, but I don't believe the WiFi enabled evohome controller allows this. I don't use load scaling, not really sure if I can be bothered to start using it because everything's working nicely at the moment.

                Comment

                • SteveP
                  Automated Home Guru
                  • Dec 2012
                  • 190

                  #9
                  Originally posted by RedEarth View Post
                  It would be better to have the option to use an external temperature sensor, but I don't believe the WiFi enabled evohome controller allows this.
                  a number of us raised this with Honeywell (now Resideo) reps on the forum at the time when this feature was introduced and we found its “challenges”. They confirmed that there was no option for a stand alone weather sensor on the Wifi units – a shame as many of us have quite differing local weather patterns to that stated on the internet temp source covering our areas ☹

                  Comment

                  • gordonb3
                    Automated Home Ninja
                    • Dec 2016
                    • 273

                    #10
                    I'm somewhat puzzled by the purpose of this function. Is this for homes that have no insulation whatsoever?

                    Comment

                    • CT1
                      Automated Home Guru
                      • Apr 2016
                      • 189

                      #11
                      Originally posted by SteveP View Post
                      a number of us raised this with Honeywell (now Resideo) reps on the forum at the time when this feature was introduced and we found its “challenges”. They confirmed that there was no option for a stand alone weather sensor on the Wifi units – a shame as many of us have quite differing local weather patterns to that stated on the internet temp source covering our areas ☹
                      An external sensor, properly positioned, would eliminate one source of error but would not help with differential solar gain, wind chill and activity levels etc. I would have liked an external sensor but this would only be for information and to avoid using another device, which I already have now. Maybe our high levels of insulation also minimise the benefit of these “advanced” features?

                      Comment

                      • MichaelD
                        Automated Home Guru
                        • Mar 2006
                        • 167

                        #12
                        Originally posted by gordonb3 View Post
                        I'm somewhat puzzled by the purpose of this function. Is this for homes that have no insulation whatsoever?
                        Be careful with questions like that, you may find yourself superglued to a motorway

                        Comment

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